Chris Carter

Chris Carter

Article by Alan Trout

Chris Carter had just four rides in the 1974/75 National Hunt season but won on one of them. 

He worked for permit holder Roger Murphy at Eyton Hall, Wellington, in Shropshire. Murphy trained a string of around a dozen horses, all owned by himself or his wife, and often rode them in races. His colours of ‘navy blue, gold stars, red and blue hooped sleeves, red cap’ were well-known around the West Midlands tracks during the 1970s.

Chris had his first ride for him at Bangor-on-Dee on October 19, 1974, when Crimmond finished ninth of eleven finishers in the Fenns Bank Novices’ Hurdle (Division 1) after a short spell in the lead mid-race. 

The five-year-old Start Anew, owned and trained by Murphy, was Chris’s only success, taking the Aston Munslow Novices’ Hurdle at Ludlow on May 21, 1975, coming with a strong run from the final flight to overhaul long-time leader Jan Stewer, the mount of Peter Haynes, and win by as neck. 

Start Anew was also his final ride when finishing second in the Kingstone Opportunity Handicap Hurdle at Uttoxeter on Whit Monday, May 26, 1975, beaten a length by Keith Taylor on Dee Lane.